SANDPOINT — Another trial date is set in the case of a Bonner County man facing murder and witness tampering charges in Washington state, online court records show.

Barry Brandon Beckford is scheduled to stand trial in Yakima County Superior Court on Aug. 8. Beckford’s trial has been set and reset a half-dozen times since detectives arrested him at his Vay home in January 2015.

The trial has been postponed repeatedly in order to give the prosecution and defense adequate time to prepare their respective cases, television station KIMA reported earlier this year.

A trial confirmation hearing is set for Aug. 8. Attorneys will advise the court on that date of their readiness to proceed.

Beckford, formally known as Barrett Bailey, is charged with first-degree murder. His 32-year-old wife Deborah Bailey was found shot to death northeast of Naches, Wash., in 1997.

Beckford was a longtime suspect in the slaying, but escaped prosecution due to a lack of evidence.

Beckford’s arrest coincided with the airing of an episode of “Cold Justice,” a Turner Network Television program that examines unsolved cases with the consent of law enforcement.

In a video segment, detectives from Yakima County braced Beckford about killing his wife, but Beckford denied any involvement. Yakima County prosecutors determined they had probable cause to arrest Beckford after conducted a thorough reinvestigation of the evidence and witnesses. The prosecution has not disclosed whether new information emerged as a result of the reinvestigation.

About six months after Beckford’s arrest, he was further charged with witness tampering for telling a fellow inmate to place a threatening letter in the mailbox of a key witness and to burn down the person’s garage in Selah, Wash. The letter allegedly warned that there was $10,000 hit out on the witness and alleged drew a map of the targeted property, according to published news accounts. Additional witness-tampering charges were filed after Beckford allegedly tried to influence the statements of his two sons, both of whom are identified as witnesses in the murder case.

Beckford, 62, is being held in lieu of $1 million bail while the case is pending.